Mercedes Benz Museum, Stuttgart

On Saturday, March 17, we took the train to Stuttgart to visit the Mercedes Benz museum. The train only took 34" to travel the 50 miles from the train station at Karlsruhe to Stuttgart, so Art calculated our average speed at 132 mph; we were zipping along and the train was very quiet! The German transit system is spectacular. However, it was not so easy to figure out how to buy a tram ticket out to the Museum, but we managed. I think we are starting to get the hang of this mass transit system here. :) Stuttgart was very heavily damaged during WW2, partly because the Daimler Benz factory was devoted to manufacturing bombs and munitions. So, Stuttgart itself is not particularly attractive as it was quickly rebuilt after to war with lots of boxy buildings. However, the museum itself is spectacular, as you can see from the pictures here. Warning: if you are not a car fan, this will probably be boring. (note: we made this trip prior to celebrating St. Paddy's Day at the pub, which is the other entry this week.)

Here is the museum, which consists of eight floors.

Art, with a sculpture outside the museum.

The first car built by Benz; steering was still an issue, so this model had only three wheels.

Next model; steering apparently figured out. :)

Great touring coupe.

Here is a view from the museum. There were lots of soccer fields around us, as well as the Mercedes Benz stadium.

This is the precursor to my beloved SL 500, which is the S500 coupe. 

More Mercedes models. The Mercedes name came from the daughter of one of the major customers of Daimler Benz, who ordered lots of sports cars and named the first model he bought and raced--Mercedes.

I was fascinated by the layout and design of all these displays. You start the tour on the 8th floor, with the first models, and walk around the exterior, where the walls have wonderful displays and interactive terminals with all kinds of historical events, not just car related. The museum display designers have done a wonderful job of putting the evolution of the cars in historical context. From a technical communication perspective, this museum is a wonderful example of communication.

This is the train we took between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart.

Comfortable seats on the high speed train, which also has a club car that serves beer, wine, and food.